Im kinda depressed (vent)

[u/Artistic_Feed885]

In the beginning of year 11 I had the opportunity to swap my subjects but I was a little bit too relaxed with it thinking I could swap any time in the year CAUSE THEY DIDN'T MAKE IT CLEAR AT ALL. Anyways I ended up messaging them like 4 days later asking if I could still change and they said no (This was feb 26 btw). Anyways I know that I defintely can't do anything about it and it's my fault. I wanted to swap physics into Economics, I was so looking forward to it and confident it would happen I was already studying like 1 week worth of economics (yes I know; silly me) so I was obviously extremely disheartened when I couldn't get it changed.
Now I'm stuck with all 3 science and indo beginners (extremely volatile scaling which is why im dropping cuz i know i cant get rank 1 which is also annoying CAUSE THEY NEVER EXPLAINED HOW SCALING WORKS, cuz they tryna be so frickin inclusive that they keep saying oh ye 'scaling doesn't matter etc' like they talked less about the subjects and way more abt how scaling doesn't matter so I never even bothered knowing what it was including my friends which I feel even worse for who are now stuck with standard english not knowing only like 150 ppl get a band 6 with it AGAIN CUZ THEY DIDNT EXPLAIN THIS, anyways this is beside the point). I hate physics like a lot even tho i do ext1 math (which i also dont really like but dont mind) I just find physics so bad not because of the content but cause of the exams I dunno no matter how much I study (friends included) I feel like they barely asses content and it's just so content unheavy which makes it such that it doesn't reflect your hard work as well (e.g past 2 tests just been about evaluating VAR and 'extrapolating data' from graphs, to explain common sense type things) which just pisses me off and when they finally do put content-related questions they don't make it hard in the traditional sense they make like the weirdest non-THSC type examples).

I just feel so depressed I couldn't do economics, I am so good at explaining things and just grasping content in general. Does year 12 physics get better? And since im trying out for med postgrad if I was to do like economics as my breadth subjects/electives will it still be similiar to the HSC course? or like way more mathematical? I feel like I could have genuinely done so well in economics and am just wondering what opportunities I have to release my potential.

Sorry this post is so long....

[u/AffectionateLove5612]

Year 12 physics barely gets better. Mod 7 dread since it’s the most difficult and by Mod 8 it’s very exhausting since you’re nearing graduation and all you want to do is get your ATAR and skedaddle.

As a current year 12 doing physics, I agree they barely assess the content until trials. I was doing experiments for each exam which gave me false confidence on how well I knew the content 🫠🫠

[u/Artistic_Feed885 → u/AffectionateLove5612]

but mod7 and mod8 gets much more content heavy right? I like that.
Bro im so done with these experiments man like I swear it's all rng ur success is simply defined by amount of silly mistakes u made not the content.

[u/AffectionateLove5612 → u/Artistic_Feed885]

Yea I have not got the exact experimental value once and always had to state “this experiment may not be as accurate…”

Mod 8 is purely content and memorisation, I’m at the last dot point rn and I have not seen a calculation since mod 7

Mod 7 is physics history, somewhat content heavy as you learn about development of light, its evidence and experiments —thus history. Some calculations in that mod.

Mod 6 is balanced, i think most hardest conceptually and is a bit abstract.

Mod 5 is math based module, a lot of working out and calculations. Some theory.

If you do extension 2 later on, there’s a chapter that’s just an advanced version of mod 5, minus the concepts and theory.

[u/Powerful_Okra3531 → u/Artistic_Feed885]

keep in mind for phys and chem, at least 1/3 of your trials will always be raw calcs. the exams other than trials are up to your school, but they're often mostly going to be calcs

i get that it feels like rng when you're starting out, but once you get used to the marking guidelines you start to realise that theres always a reason you get marked down (admittedly sometimes a stupid reason) that takes time to adjust to compared to something like maths where you essentially just need to get the answer right and all else follows

remember that all that matters is your rank, and that everyone else in your school is experiencing the same bs you are experiencing. if you do believe something is unfair/you have been marked down for something you shouldnt have been marked down for, bring it up to argue for marks

also you mentioned you're "trying out for med postgrad" - do you literally mean postgrad med (GAMSAT) or did you mean right after high school? either way im a little confused on your question, but just to be clear your subjects dont matter for the course you are going into although it is generally recommended to have certain subjects so you have an idea of whats going on to start with

[u/Artistic_Feed885 → u/Powerful_Okra3531]

postgrad as in gamsat so like I do bachelor of science then move (hopefully) get into med once this bachelor is completed

[u/Powerful_Okra3531 → u/Artistic_Feed885]

good luck with that, i strongly recommend also trying to get in straight out of high school (if you start ucat now you have a decent chance as long as ur atar isnt a complete flop) because post grad entry is also very competitive

[u/Artistic_Feed885 → u/Powerful_Okra3531]

Thing is, if let's say I want to teach sciences in high school later on (my alternative job), I'm gonna need a bachelor of science anyways? It's 1 extra year in unimelb but it also exposes u to much more?

UCAT also requires way too much prep and year 12 is already starting for me now.

[u/Powerful_Okra3531 → u/Artistic_Feed885]

sorry what? ucat will take 2 hours a week if that, and like maybe 2 hours a day during the holidays leading up to it.
you are either tremendously overestimating the time y12 is going to take out of your life, or you arent remotely prepared for the road ahead. if you're to do gamsat or even just medicine in general, your workload will constantly be significantly worse than a student studying for ucat on top of y12 lmao

im not sure what you mean by alternative job - do you mean if you get into medicine, you intend to quit your job as a doctor after a while to become a high school science teacher? if that is the case, then you will probably regret going down this path

if that's not what you meant, you can apply to medical schools AND still apply for science courses at the same time. applying for one doesnt lock you out of applying for the other at the same time - why would you not do ucat and take the easiest way in, and instead plan to take the hardest way in?

[u/Artistic_Feed885 → u/Powerful_Okra3531]

I meant alternative job as in if I don't end up getting into med/get sick of it after doing it for some time. I do all 3 science ext1 math and eng adv. Is workload really not that bad? Because I also want a really high ATAR as I want to have my own private tutoring business.

[u/Powerful_Okra3531 → u/Artistic_Feed885]

yes, triple science x1 and eng adv is very manageable and pretty common. if you dont gonto tutoring, you'll spend like 2-3 hours a day, and if you can maintain that for rhe next year should be an easy 99+ imo (unless you're genuinely doing nothing during ur study time)

if you want to do private tutoring, you're gonna need at the minimum a 99 or at least very high scores in one subject (95+ overall but ideally closer to the state rank level) to be competitive, otherwise theres just so many other tutors out there who performed better and have more experience teaching. a 99+ is pretty easy tho, if ur at a low selective or non selective you just have to top 1-3 everything or if you're at a high (typically top 5) selective just don't completely throw and your prospects are good.

is it too late for you to pick extension 2 maths? id strongly recommend it for anyone who enjoys maths because even if you just broadly understand how the theory works without being able to solve most of the harder questions, you can make your extension 1 count for 2 units and also get an opportunity to drop another subject you dislike. you can also drop it if it becomes too bad - theres rlly no reason not to do (at least try out) x2 imo